Legends Blog

Wade Boggs is the best beer drinker of all time. The hall of fame baseball player is better known for his drinking habits than the 3,000 hits he racked up or his 5 batting titles. Tales of Boggs have been a large part of sports pop culture for a number of years. Boggs obsession with Chicken, his horse ride after his World Series victory or the mere 46 times he swing and missed in the 1985 season. His most famous story, is his 1994 flight in which Boggs reportedly drank 64 beers starting in Cleveland and ending in Boston.

The legend started to build in 2003 when former Yankee and Mariner reliever Jeff Nelson was on KJR radio in Seattle. He said Boggs could easily drink 50-60 beers on a trip from New York to Seattle. Later in the interview, Nelson called former teammate Paul Sorrento on the air. Sorrento confirmed Nelson’s story and estimated that Boggs could actually drink 70 beers on a cross-country trip.

Jeff Nelson offered a simple look into the daily travel of Boggs. “Wade was always the first one at the club house, he would bring a six pack with him. He’d be there drinking a beer when someone showed up, and as we were all packing our stuff up out of our lockers and getting our bags ready for the trip, Wade would sit there and drink that whole six pack.We were flying out of New Jersey, so it was a drive from Yankee stadium to the airport in New Jersey. Wade would drink another couple of beers on the bus to the airport. At the time, we were flying this older airplane, it couldn’t make it across the country without refueling, so we would stop in North Dakota or something. Wade would drink about a half rack between New Jersey and North Dakota. During they half hour they refueled in North Dakota, Wade would have a few more beers. Back up in the air, Wade would drink another 10, 11, 12 beers on the way out to the west coast. The whole flight from coast to coast usually took us well over 7 hours. We’d touch down, hop on the bus headed to the Kingdome, and Wade would have another beer or two on the bus. Then, all of us would get to the Kingdome and unpack our bags and sit around and BS with each other, and Wade would have a beer in his hand the entire time. He was always one of the last people to leave the club house too.”

After the radio interview, a fan on College Game Day held a sign that read “Did you know Wade Boggs once drank 64 beers on a cross country flight”. This led Tony Kornheiser on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption to ask Boggs about the story. Boggs responded by saying “No it's not true, it wasn't 64, but a lot of people have fun with that and its nothing to brag about. You get board on a cross country flight from Boston to LA, you gotta do something. No, I wont answer the number but put it this way I had a few Miller Lites".

An interview featuring major leaguer Brian Rose exposed more of Boggs habit. In 2001 Rose was claimed off waiver by the Devil Rays while Wade Boggs was a coach there. Rose goes on to describe a flight in which he sat next to Boggs “I was sitting next to him on a plane and a flight attendant came by and gave him a case of beer,” said Rose. “He slid it under the seat and I was like, ‘What’s up with that? We only have an hour flight.’ He said, ‘That’s mine.’ Rose continued “The whole flight, we were just shooting the shit, and he went one beer after the other. I said to him, ‘I’m impressed with the way you hit, but I’m more impressed right now.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, beer doesn’t affect me. I don’t get drunk unless I’ve had at least a case and a half.’ I don’t think he even went to the bathroom.”

In 2015 the story was reexamined, Always Sunny In Philadelphia ran an episode honoring Boggs 64 beers on a flight. Wade plays a ghost of himself in the episode. Behind the scenes Boggs told the shows creator Charlie Day that he once drank 107 beers in a day.

So how exactly is this possible? The skeptics point to the fact that Boggs blood alcohol level would be too high to possibly drink that many beers. Those same skeptics forget to factor in alcohol tolerance into the equation. Maxim magazine called the statement “bullshit” in a recent article. Boggs’ weight was 197 pounds, cans of Miller Lite are 12 ounces and contain 4.2% alcohol. He drank 64 cans of Miller Lite over a 4 hour flight. Taking into consideration his large tolerance level for alcohol you can’t make a realistic estimate on his blood alcohol level. Critics say that much alcohol would kill anyone, however on their scale 40 beers would kill someone. In a recent interview with TMZ, the Chicken-Man finally admitted to drinking more than 100 beers in a day. His choice of beer? Miller Lite of course.